


point of no return

by ttamarrindo



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Pre-Relationship, um insecurity??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 23:44:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13985847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ttamarrindo/pseuds/ttamarrindo
Summary: everything's a bit of a mess, and the kid really could not have come at a worse time.(or, sungjin gets close to their new maknae // pre-debut.)





	point of no return

**Author's Note:**

> my best friend: i don't ship anyone in day6. not even jaehyungparkian  
> me: (ʘᗩʘ')  
> my best friend, a week later, choosing one of the rarest day6 pairs there is: hey can you write sungjin x dowoon 
> 
> [for the prompts "take my jacket, it's cold outside" + "i'll walk you home" / not beta'd]

honestly, it’s all a bit of a mess. 

 

younghyun is still prickly about been forced to exchange his guitar for a bass, itching like a bad wound. he and jaehyung are not making any progress either. sungjin can still hear screaming coming from their room late at night more often than not; they think they can hide it, the resentment, but it leaks like dirt water, slips under their door and stains, doesn’t leave. 

 

it makes sungjin worry. they don’t have to like each other, but they need to learn to be in the same room without biting each other’s heads off. they’re supposed to be a band, a group . 

 

a team, if they manage. if not, they can at least pretend. fake it till you make it, right?

 

(when he tells wonpils this, one night when it’s so late it could as well be called morning, wonpil merely blinks tired eyes his way and smiles a slow grin. says, gravity-sure, ”don’t worry. we’ll pull through.” 

 

sungjin grimaces, stays quiet and even more quiet still? wishes he could have enough faith in the others like wonpil’s seems to do.)

 

point being, everything's a bit of a mess, and the kid really could not have come at a worse time.

 

their new maknae is a shy one. his name is yoon dowoon, though is not like sungjin learned that from him. manager-him had to introduce him. the kid is far too flustered to answer anything sungjin asks him. he just ducks his head, shuffles on his feet, turns red-eared. sungjin doesn’t know how to handle it - how handle him. 

 

and he has to wonder really, what exactly management was thinking adding a new member so close to their debut date. the band was well on its way to feeling complete, if not quite being it yet. they had done shows and gone busking and they were - not a team, not yet. but close and getting closer. hopefully. 

 

but now they have a new maknae and he’s shifting everything. sungjin can feel it tilting, rearranging. and it’s not like he’s bitter - he  _ isn’t _ \- no matter how many looks younghyun throws his way, as if to say,  _ see, this is how it feels like to be put aside. _

 

because well, the new kid can’t sing, only really knows how to keep rhythm. he can’t play any other instrument apart from the drums and that means sungjin has to move on to the guitar. which is fine. it’s fine. sungjin just has to grit his teeth and bear it. he’s come this far, no point in giving up now. 

 

“ah, hyung - hello.”

 

grin and bear it, sungin thinks as he turns around to see dowoon standing awkwardly by the threshold of the studio door. it’s late, too late for anyone to still be hanging around the company building. sungjin’s only here because management wanted to talk to him and all he wants is to return home and slip into bed. 

 

it’s all he wants - but. 

 

dowoon is shuffling shyly in front of him, tugging at the ends of his hair (now bleached dry and dyed an awful red. dowoon doesn’t seem to like it, if the way he grimaces whenever the others bring it up is any proof, but what can you do really but push through?). dowoon coughs, painfully awkward, and sungjin can’t help but think about the discussion he just had with their manager behind closed doors. the conversation was filled with heavy words like  _ responsibility _ and  _ care _ . they all mean the same, really: you have to lead. more importantly, maybe: you have to try.

 

“hey, dowoon-ah.” sungjin nods the boy’s way. dowoon, in turn, smiles. it’s a barely-there thing, small and almost untraceable in the bad hallways lights they’re standing under, but sungjin catches it all the same and thinks too: might as well start now. 

 

so he asks, “what are you doing here?” and waits patiently for dowoon to find the words, if not the right ones then the next best thing. 

 

“i, uh, stayed behind after vocal training,” he stutters and ducks his head down. slowly, they start to make their way down to the entrance, shoulders touching in the narrow hallway. “i wanted to practice a bit more. you’re really good, hyung. the others are, too. i don’t - don’t want to stay behind.”

 

“you’re good too, dowoon-ah,” sungjin says because he  _ could _ be; the potential is there, they just have to let it grow. and there’s a sudden desire then, to offer reassurance. sungjin falters; it’s odd in the sense that long-forgotten things tend to be. the soft  _ oh, there you are _ of relearning a melody, of finding an old love in a new song. sungjin might be one of the oldest, might carry the title of leader on his shoulders, but the others - younghyun, junhyeok, even wonpil, they don’t need the kind of reassurance dowoon seems to be looking for. 

 

breathing out, sungjin goes to ruffle the kid’s hair, the move awkward and stilted in its newness. his ring catches on a strand of dowoon’s hair, tugs without meaning to but - but dowoon seem to relax under it all the same, shoulders slumping, smile getting bigger, more settled.

 

“you think so, hyung?” he asks and it’s vulnerable, the way he speaks. sungjin swallows, doesn’t understand how this kid can look at him for guidance. look too, like he knows he’s going to find it.

 

“i wouldn’t have said it if i didn’t believe it,” sungjin offers him a smile and it’s, again, all sorts of awkward. but it also feels a little bit easier this time around - at least it does to sungjin because dowoon seems to brighten. it’s not visible, not in the way wonpil’s smile breaks like dawn or the way jaehyung’s laugh sometimes sounds like summer but it’s there - a quiet sort of warmth, hidden in the way dowoon smiles. the kind sungjin likes best. 

 

“come on,” sungjin urges him forward, stopping his thoughts right there. that smile is dangerous, he thinks, and shakes his head to get rid of its afterimage. “it’s late, i’ll walk you home.”

 

“it’s okay,” dowoon hurries to answer. “if hyung needs to stay here longer i can get home by myself.” 

 

“dowoon-ah, c’mon.” sungjin rolls his eyes, tugs at dowoon’s elbow to get him moving. “i’m done for the day too. here,” he adds when he peaks outside and sees the sky overcast, bleak in the dark of night. “take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”

 

at that, dowoon shakes his head vehemently. “no, i’m fine. you don’t need to-”

 

“yah,” sungin cuts him off. he dumps his wool jacket over dowoon’s shoulders before the younger can protest. “don’t talk back to me. now, let’s go.” 

 

dowoon fumbles with it for a moment but realizes soon that sungjin won’t be budged and quietly slips the jacket on. it hangs a bit low on his frame but they’re about the same size for it to offer enough protection against the biting seoul wind rushing outside. 

 

when they get back to the dorm after the shor trek home, dowoon hands it back over with a shy smile, murmurs a thank you and makes to head over to his room. 

 

sungjin stops him with a hand to his arm before he can get too far. he isn’t really sure why he did it, what he’s trying to do, and it all catches up to him when doowon turns dark eyes to him in question and - “you know,” sungjin swallows, thinks about being a leader, about what it all means, if he can pull it off, if  _ they _ can pull it off and - “you’re right there with us. i’ll make sure of it, so don’t worry. i’ll - i’ll take care of you now.”

 

it’s awful,  _ god _ . sungjin’s mouth clicks shuts and the sound rings loud in the silence of the room. for once, younghyun and jae seem to have stopped fighting. wonpil’s room is dark. he’s probably asleep, sungjin thinks. better that way, now he won’t be able to make fun of sungjin for this. 

 

then dowoon - laughs. sungjin doesn’t think he’s ever heard him laugh before but it’s - it’s a nice laugh, rumbles deep in dowoon’s chest and scratches at his throat. sungjin thinks he wouldn’t mind hearing it again. 

 

“thanks, hyung,” dowoon says. his ears are red now, almost as bright as the color of his hair, but this time it’s only part shyness. the other part? well. sungjin can only guess at. 

 

“you’ll be a good leader,” dowoon nods sharply, like he wants to reassure him, and looks for all the world like he really means it. “i’m glad it’s you.”

 

“ah, what is this,” sungjin fumbles, neck feeling strangely warm even when he’s still carrying the cold from outside on his back. he pushes at dowoon’s shoulders, gets him moving in the direction of his room. “stop talking nonsense. it’s late, you should go sleep.”

 

“it’s not nonsense,” dowoon insists and frowns like sungjin’s offended him somehow. then he grins slowly, cheeky and amused, shyness falling apart and breaking like eggshells all over the floor. sungjin feels like he’s seeing him for the first time. “i wouldn’t have said it if i didn’t believe it.” 

 

“yah, don’t use my words against me, brat,” sungjin chides and cuffs dowoon lightly on the head but it’s half-hearted at beast, with the way his eyes are crinkling in laughter and the chuckle caught on his throat. “and i meant it, we have a long schedule tomorrow, so go sleep. i don’t want you tired in the morning.” 

 

“i’m going i’m going.” dowoon shuffles on his feet. one heartbeat, two, and then he’s gone, disappeared down the hallway and into his cramped room with one last throw-away  _ goodnight hyung _ . 

 

after, sungjin stands in the living room, staring mindlessly in the direction dowoon left. it’s all a bit of a mess but maybe, he thinks, dowoon’s timing isn’t all that wrong. 

 

maybe it’s just about right.  

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry for any/all mistakes. i've written this ship only once before and i don't think i did it justice but for you? anything. hope this wasn't all that bad? ahh i'll write you a better one next time tqm <3 
> 
> as always, find me on [+tumblr](https://jahehyung.tumblr.com/) and/or [+cc](https://curiouscat.me/ttamarrindo)


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